Red Bull’s Max Verstappen quickest at FP3, Alex Albon to miss Italian GP due to appendicitis

Max Verstappen was quickest in FP3 at Monza at the Italian Grand Prix on Saturday afternoon.

It remains to be seen how meaningful race pace will be for the world champion and current championship leader as he is one of a number of drivers to incur grid penalties after taking new parts.

Verstappen, Carlos Sainz, Lewis Hamilton, Yuki Tsunoda and Valtteri Bottas will all take a hit, and they will be joined by Mick Schumacher and Kevin Magnussen as the Haas pair also take new parts, and Fernando Alonso will take a five-place penalty, as does Esteban Ocon.

There is unlikely to be a penalty for George Russell of Mercedes, but he could face a warning from stewards after his slow pace held up Verstappen early in the session. He finished seventh quickest, with Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton 10th.

One notable absentee from the day’s activity was Alex Albon, who will miss the race after confirming he would have surgery for appendicitis. That saw Nyck de Vries step in for his third appearance for various teams this season.

He acquitted himself well, in fourteenth ahead of Saturday afternoon’s qualifying session.

Verstappen laid down a time of 1:21.252 as a guide for a target for the second session, with Charles Leclerc second for Ferrari, ahead of Sergio Perez, Sainz, and Alonso.